Automotive transmissions change gear ratios to constantly maintain the rotation of an engine based on the speed of a vehicle. To change the gear ratio, a shift lever which is included in the automotive transmission may be operated by the driver. Automotive transmissions may be classified into two types of transmissions: a manual transmission and an automatic transmission. In the manual transmission, a driver may manually change gears in the transmission and in the automatic transmission, the gears are automatically changed based on the vehicle speed in response to a drive (D) mode being selected by a driver.
There is another type of automotive transmission, i.e., a sport mode transmission that performs both a manual shift operation and an automatic shift operation. The sport mode transmission may perform the manual shift operation in response to a driver increasing or decreasing the gear ratio, and simultaneously, perform the automatic shift operation in parallel, or may include an automotive transmission together with a manual transmission.
However, a related-art shift operation mechanism generally requires substantial space and a significant amount of mechanical parts, thereby occupying most of the space for a gear console box into which a shift lever is installed. Accordingly, the space within the gear console box may not be properly utilized. Since the space between the driver's seat and the front passenger's seat is relatively narrow, the utilization of the space around a shift lever and the freedom of the design of a transmission may be decreased. In addition, conventionally, vehicles are often stopped even when the transmissions are not in a park (P) position. As a result, accidents may occur during the parking of a vehicle, or a vehicle may not be properly restarted.